Friday, February 11, 2011

Keeping Things Open-minded

I am not a Utah Jazz fan, so I cannot weigh in on the sudden resignation of Jerry Sloan with any real impact or uproar, but I can feel sadness. Right? Like, I can have a respect for the game and the longest tenured coach, uh.. ex-coach, of the Jazz. I can still be affect by the departure of someone who has head-coached an NBA team for an amount of time that is longer in years, than the years my wife has been living. He changes the landscape of the NBA game that I love.

Deep down inside, I always wanted Jerry and the Jazz to get their title… but not really. During 1997 and 1998, I wanted the Jazz, sort of to win, but never truly. Come on, be realistic with yourself, it was all about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls back then. Face facts, everybody wanted the Bulls, unless of course you were a Jazz fan or evil. I guess when I say that there was a small part of me that wanted the Jazz to get theirs, I think I speak for everyone besides Jazz fans and evil people by saying, had the Jazz won one of those series against the Bulls I would have been able to swallow a Bulls Finals loss much easier, as opposed to them losing to the Denver Nuggets. You know exactly what I am saying.

Nobody really wanted the Jazz to win, you just kind of wanted John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jerry Sloan to have gotten the cherry on top. You wanted them to receive all the accolades that go with an NBA Finals Championship, but minus the actual winning of a Finals. Admit it. You know I am right. If we all feel this way, why can we not just quietly give it to them in the record books and if our children and grand children ask us why the Jazz winning the NBA Finals is never replayed on ESPN Classic’s, we’ll just say, “I don’t know, but they did.” and then change the subject. I honestly and sincerely think nobody would object. I mean really, would you care? I didn’t think so.

Also, did anyone notice that Jerry Sloan did not retire, but rather resigned? Allow a moment for that to digest. Why is nobody talking about this?

“Well, what are you implying Brady?”

Hear me out, and first, let me just clear the air a bit. Do I want Jerry Sloan to go the Karl Malone rout and be a part of an NBA team that is not the Utah Jazz? No. But, did I write a mega-column recently about a certain team that is oh-so “poised” to be great—all they need is that right guy coach. Why, yes I did. I thought Rick Adelman was the perfect guy, but could it not very well be famous and former head coach of the Utah Jazz, Jerry Sloan. Is that not, in some ways, better than ‘ole Rick?

Jerry Sloan1221 Career Wins.603 Win-Loss Percent200+ post-season games under his belt

Rick Adelman902 Career Wins.610 Win-Loss Percent150+ post-season games under his belt

Both coaches records are fantastic but the edge goes slightly to Sloan. Plus, he has to be even more revered than Adelman because he was with the Utah Jazz for 24 seasons. Could you imagine in Jerry went to Timberwolves.

Think about it. The Utah Jazz have Deron Williams and… umm.. OK, they have Deron Williams and that is about it. Unless you want to count 9th overall pick, Gordon Hayward (DOH!). The Minnesota Timberwolves, on the other paw, have options. Non-Gordon Hayward options. And that is important.

At the end of the January I compared Kevin Love to Charles Barkley, but maybe I should have been thinking along the lines of another great power-forward in Karl Malone. Jerry Sloan has never had anybody like that to since the Stockon-to-Malone days, and he knows exactly what to do with phenomenal big-man talent. What is even better about Kevin Love in comparison to Karl Malone is White Barry is not creepily, way too in to semi-trucks. If we’re going to do comparisons then lets do comparisons. Did we not see the warning signs when a man, with arms built like Panzer’s, openly protest his love for truck driving? Am I the only one that watches horror movies? Truck drivers are not to be trusted. They’re crazy; like Karl Malone is, as seen here.

This is getting off topic. All I am saying, is that if Jerry Sloan wants to give it one more go—and deep down I hope he does not—then the T-Wolves are the team that give him the best shot to do so. I am open to debate this. Moving on.

In other news, Albert Puljos has pretty much given the St. Louis Cardinals until the 16th of this month to get his deal done. What in the world is hold up? It is Albert freaking Puljos we’re talking about.

Lifetime.331 BA1.050 OPSAveraging 42 HRs and 128 RBIs a season.

Get the guy his 10-year $300 million dollar deal and be done with it. I do not see why this has not happened yet. Dusty Baker said in a short interview that AP is worth $50 million a year. A he is kind of right. Pay Albert, and let us move on. Then again, I will be watching Cricket this spring instead of baseball anyways, so why do I even care. I guess don’t pay Puljos. Let the Yankees swoop him up for a billion dollars.

I will be enjoying the finer things in life while Puljos crushes baseballs for the Bronx Bombers. Things like biscuits and tea.